Your pancreas—it may not be a “pretty” gland, nor the most glamorous in the body, but it’s certainly important.
Here are some things to know so you can love your pancreas a little better.
What does the pancreas look like and where it is located?
- The pancreas is six inches long, flat and is deep inside your abdomen tucked underneath your stomach and spine and attached to the duodenum.
- 90% of the cells in the pancreas are digestive.
- 5% of the pancreas is composed of endocrine cells, which cluster in groups called the islets of Langerhans.
What does the pancreas do?
- The essential function of the pancreas is maintaining the body’s blood glucose (sugar) balance. The hormones that it secretes (insulin and glucagon) both help regulate glucose.
- The pancreas is also part of the digestive system producing the hormone gastrin, which stimulates stomach cells to produce acid.
- Two other hormones that the pancreas secretes for regulation of glucose, salt and water are somatostatin and vasoactive intestinal peptide.
What are the most common diseases and disorders of the pancreas?
- Diabetes is the most common disease that affects the pancreas.
- With type one diabetes, the beta cells in the pancreas stop producing insulin almost completely because of an autoimmune response in the body. There is no known cause or cure for type one diabetes, although there is some promising research being done.
- Type two diabetes causes the pancreas to produce less insulin than needed, or the body is unable to use the insulin the pancreas does produce. This is called insulin resistance and one of the major causes is obesity.
- Pancreatitis is another disease of the pancreas where inflammation of the pancreas causes the digestive juices created by the pancreas to start digesting the pancreas rather than your dinner. It’s extremely painful and usually requires hospitalization.
- Pancreatic cancer is the overgrowth of pancreatic cells within the pancreas. Weight, chronic pancreatitis, diabetes and smoking all increase your risk dramatically.
How can you best care for your pancreas?
- Lose weight, exercise regularly and eat low-fat foods.
- Monitor your blood pressure and cholesterol with your doctor and keep them in a healthy range.
- Stop smoking and don’t drink alcohol in excess (these both raise your risk for pancreatitis greatly).
Now that you know more about it, do you love your pancreas just a little more? It turns out there is a lot to love! Love your pancreas and it will love you right back.